This book offers a fresh perspective on ethics at work, questioning the notions that doing ethics at work has to be work, and that work is somehow a sphere where a different set of rules applies. ...
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This book offers a fresh perspective on ethics at work, questioning the notions that doing ethics at work has to be work, and that work is somehow a sphere where a different set of rules applies. When we separate ethics from life, we put it beyond our daily reach, treating it as something that is meaningful only at certain moments. This problem permeates our everyday talk about ethics at work, in popular culture, in our textbooks, and even in our ethics codes. This book uses insights from the fields of communications and rhetoric to show how in the very framing of ethics—even before we get to specific decisions—we limit the potential roles of ethics in our work lives and in the pursuit of happiness. Sayings such as “It's just a job” and “Let the market decide” are two examples of demonstrating that our perspective on professional ethics is shaped and reinforced by everyday language. The standard “bad apples” approach to dealing with corporate and governmental wrongdoing is not surprising; few people are willing to consider how to cultivate “the good orchard.” The book argues that ethics is about more than behaviour regulation, spectacular scandals, and comprehensive codes. The authors offer a new take on virtue ethics, referencing Aristotle's practical ideal of eudaimonia, or flourishing, allowing us to tell new stories about the ordinary and to see the extraordinary aspects of professional integrity and success.Less

Just a Job? : Communication, Ethics, and Professional Life

George CheneyDan LairDean RitzBrenden Kendall

Published in print: 2009-10-01

This book offers a fresh perspective on ethics at work, questioning the notions that doing ethics at work has to be work, and that work is somehow a sphere where a different set of rules applies. When we separate ethics from life, we put it beyond our daily reach, treating it as something that is meaningful only at certain moments. This problem permeates our everyday talk about ethics at work, in popular culture, in our textbooks, and even in our ethics codes. This book uses insights from the fields of communications and rhetoric to show how in the very framing of ethics—even before we get to specific decisions—we limit the potential roles of ethics in our work lives and in the pursuit of happiness. Sayings such as “It's just a job” and “Let the market decide” are two examples of demonstrating that our perspective on professional ethics is shaped and reinforced by everyday language. The standard “bad apples” approach to dealing with corporate and governmental wrongdoing is not surprising; few people are willing to consider how to cultivate “the good orchard.” The book argues that ethics is about more than behaviour regulation, spectacular scandals, and comprehensive codes. The authors offer a new take on virtue ethics, referencing Aristotle's practical ideal of eudaimonia, or flourishing, allowing us to tell new stories about the ordinary and to see the extraordinary aspects of professional integrity and success.

This chapter explores the multiple communication problems that arise normally among groups of people and that are exacerbated under the impact of recurrent stress. Under conditions of chronic stress, ...
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This chapter explores the multiple communication problems that arise normally among groups of people and that are exacerbated under the impact of recurrent stress. Under conditions of chronic stress, breakdowns in organizational communication networks occur. The feedback loops that are necessary for consistent and timely error correction no longer function. Without adequate networks of communication, the normal conflict that exists in human groups will escalate and increasing amounts of important information become “undiscussable” while the organization as a whole becomes increasingly alexithymic–unable to talk about the issues that are causing the most problems and that remain, therefore unsolvable. One of the consequences of this is the emergence of collective disturbances that may turn into chronic unresolved conflict and violence. Without the ability to discuss vital subjects, the organizational grapevine becomes poisoned, conflict compounds and without adequate communication, collective disturbances emerge and if not stopped, will lead to violence.Less

Miscommunication, Conflict, and Organizational Alexithymia

Sandra L. BloomBrian Farragher

Published in print: 2010-10-28

This chapter explores the multiple communication problems that arise normally among groups of people and that are exacerbated under the impact of recurrent stress. Under conditions of chronic stress, breakdowns in organizational communication networks occur. The feedback loops that are necessary for consistent and timely error correction no longer function. Without adequate networks of communication, the normal conflict that exists in human groups will escalate and increasing amounts of important information become “undiscussable” while the organization as a whole becomes increasingly alexithymic–unable to talk about the issues that are causing the most problems and that remain, therefore unsolvable. One of the consequences of this is the emergence of collective disturbances that may turn into chronic unresolved conflict and violence. Without the ability to discuss vital subjects, the organizational grapevine becomes poisoned, conflict compounds and without adequate communication, collective disturbances emerge and if not stopped, will lead to violence.

The book links the broad areas of organizational behavior and information management. It looks at how organizations behave as information-seeking, information-creating, and information-using ...
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The book links the broad areas of organizational behavior and information management. It looks at how organizations behave as information-seeking, information-creating, and information-using communities, and introduces a unifying framework to show how organizations create meaning, knowledge, and action. The book presents a model of how organizations use information strategically to adapt to external change and to foster internal growth. This model examines how people and groups within organizations use information to create an identity and a shared context for action and reflection; to develop new knowledge and new capabilities; and to make decisions that commit resources and capabilities to purposeful action.Less

The Knowing Organization : How Organizations Use Information to Construct Meaning, Create Knowledge, and Make Decisions

Chun Wei Choo

Published in print: 2005-10-27

The book links the broad areas of organizational behavior and information management. It looks at how organizations behave as information-seeking, information-creating, and information-using communities, and introduces a unifying framework to show how organizations create meaning, knowledge, and action. The book presents a model of how organizations use information strategically to adapt to external change and to foster internal growth. This model examines how people and groups within organizations use information to create an identity and a shared context for action and reflection; to develop new knowledge and new capabilities; and to make decisions that commit resources and capabilities to purposeful action.

This chapter focuses on the importance of the use of language, both verbal and written. It provides direction for how managerial supervisors may better understand communication and what strategies ...
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This chapter focuses on the importance of the use of language, both verbal and written. It provides direction for how managerial supervisors may better understand communication and what strategies can be used to enhance this critical aspect of organizational culture. It begins with a brief overview of the importance of communication, then focuses more specifically on understanding and skill building.Less

Facilitating Communication

Felice Davidson PerlmutterDarlyne BaileyF. Ellen Netting

Published in print: 2000-07-13

This chapter focuses on the importance of the use of language, both verbal and written. It provides direction for how managerial supervisors may better understand communication and what strategies can be used to enhance this critical aspect of organizational culture. It begins with a brief overview of the importance of communication, then focuses more specifically on understanding and skill building.

This chapter examines how social network analysis can be used as a diagnostic technique for better understanding myriad organizational challenges, ranging from improving communication between ...
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This chapter examines how social network analysis can be used as a diagnostic technique for better understanding myriad organizational challenges, ranging from improving communication between functional organizations to identifying key knowledge-sharing roles and responsibilities. A research program is described that aims to determine how organizations can better support work occurring in informal networks of employees. Working with a consortium of Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, collaboration and work in over forty informal networks from twenty-three different organizations was assessed. In all cases, the networks studied provided strategic and operational value to the embedding organization by enabling employees to effectively collaborate and integrate disparate expertise.Less

Making Invisible Work Visible: Using Social Network Analysis to Support Strategic Collaboration

Rob CrossStephen P. BorgattiAndrew Parker

Published in print: 2004-01-08

This chapter examines how social network analysis can be used as a diagnostic technique for better understanding myriad organizational challenges, ranging from improving communication between functional organizations to identifying key knowledge-sharing roles and responsibilities. A research program is described that aims to determine how organizations can better support work occurring in informal networks of employees. Working with a consortium of Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, collaboration and work in over forty informal networks from twenty-three different organizations was assessed. In all cases, the networks studied provided strategic and operational value to the embedding organization by enabling employees to effectively collaborate and integrate disparate expertise.

This chapter discusses effective communication in hospitals. Hospitals offer a multitude of challenges for effective communication, but good communication is possible when it is recognized that the ...
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This chapter discusses effective communication in hospitals. Hospitals offer a multitude of challenges for effective communication, but good communication is possible when it is recognized that the challenge needs time, commitment, and resources; when formal processes and structures exist and are used effectively; and, particularly, when the importance of informal communication channels is recognized and exploited.Less

Communication with staff

Robert Craig

Published in print: 2010-09-16

This chapter discusses effective communication in hospitals. Hospitals offer a multitude of challenges for effective communication, but good communication is possible when it is recognized that the challenge needs time, commitment, and resources; when formal processes and structures exist and are used effectively; and, particularly, when the importance of informal communication channels is recognized and exploited.

This chapter dispels six commonly held assumptions about networks in organizations. These myths include: (i) to build better networks, we have to communicate more; (ii) everyone should be connected ...
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This chapter dispels six commonly held assumptions about networks in organizations. These myths include: (i) to build better networks, we have to communicate more; (ii) everyone should be connected to everyone else; (iii) we can't do much to aid informal networks; (iv) how people fit into networks is a matter of personality (which can't be changed); (v) central people who have become bottlenecks should make themselves more accessible; and (vi) I already know what is going on in my network.Less

Six Myths about Informal Networks— and How to Overcome Them

Rob CrossNitin NohriaAndrew Parker

Published in print: 2004-01-08

This chapter dispels six commonly held assumptions about networks in organizations. These myths include: (i) to build better networks, we have to communicate more; (ii) everyone should be connected to everyone else; (iii) we can't do much to aid informal networks; (iv) how people fit into networks is a matter of personality (which can't be changed); (v) central people who have become bottlenecks should make themselves more accessible; and (vi) I already know what is going on in my network.

This volume originates from the Fourth International Symposium on Process Organization held in Kos in June 2012. For this event, conceptual and/or empirical submissions were sought that would examine ...
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This volume originates from the Fourth International Symposium on Process Organization held in Kos in June 2012. For this event, conceptual and/or empirical submissions were sought that would examine language and communication at work. With the metaphor work, the aim was to inspire scholars to examine language and communication as an inherent part of ongoing organizational processes at various levels of analysis. It was hoped that scholars would be encouraged to not only explore the question of language and communication as constitutive of work, but also analyze how language and communication actually work, i.e., do things in the context of organizing. The symposium also aimed at elucidating the role language, communication and narrativity play as part of strategic and institutional work in and around organizational phenomena. In keeping with the preceding volumes in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies series, this book demonstrates why we need to start thinking processually, and offers a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to studying these ‘works in process’ commonly known as organizations, companies, businesses, institutions, communities, associations or NGOs.Less

Language and Communication at Work : Discourse, Narrativity, and Organizing

Published in print: 2014-05-08

This volume originates from the Fourth International Symposium on Process Organization held in Kos in June 2012. For this event, conceptual and/or empirical submissions were sought that would examine language and communication at work. With the metaphor work, the aim was to inspire scholars to examine language and communication as an inherent part of ongoing organizational processes at various levels of analysis. It was hoped that scholars would be encouraged to not only explore the question of language and communication as constitutive of work, but also analyze how language and communication actually work, i.e., do things in the context of organizing. The symposium also aimed at elucidating the role language, communication and narrativity play as part of strategic and institutional work in and around organizational phenomena. In keeping with the preceding volumes in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies series, this book demonstrates why we need to start thinking processually, and offers a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to studying these ‘works in process’ commonly known as organizations, companies, businesses, institutions, communities, associations or NGOs.

This chapter considers the sources of information available to British Railways (BR) staff as well as health and safety training courses and different types of information. Most BR employees were ...
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This chapter considers the sources of information available to British Railways (BR) staff as well as health and safety training courses and different types of information. Most BR employees were aware that information about health and safety was available to them. Numerous sources were cited, but these were mainly written sources and there was a general perception that verbal communication was much more effective. The main source of unwritten health and safety information was training. This was not perceived as being generally available and when it was, it was not regarded as being high quality.Less

The Communication of Risk: Information about Health and Safety

Bridget M. Hutter

Published in print: 2001-03-15

This chapter considers the sources of information available to British Railways (BR) staff as well as health and safety training courses and different types of information. Most BR employees were aware that information about health and safety was available to them. Numerous sources were cited, but these were mainly written sources and there was a general perception that verbal communication was much more effective. The main source of unwritten health and safety information was training. This was not perceived as being generally available and when it was, it was not regarded as being high quality.

The NHS is divided into a purchasing arm, which commissions, monitors, and pays for care; and a provider arm, which delivers care in hospitals and the community. This chapter discusses the importance ...
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The NHS is divided into a purchasing arm, which commissions, monitors, and pays for care; and a provider arm, which delivers care in hospitals and the community. This chapter discusses the importance of establishing sound processes for relationship management and communications between these two organizational arms for efficient NHS organization and care delivery. The relationship between providers and commissioners is structured through a series of timetabled meetings throughout the year. Commissioning for Quality is now central to the relationship between purchasers and providers with financial incentives to provide high-quality, safe care through Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN).Less

Relationships and communication with NHS Commissioners

Nicholas Hunt

Published in print: 2010-09-16

The NHS is divided into a purchasing arm, which commissions, monitors, and pays for care; and a provider arm, which delivers care in hospitals and the community. This chapter discusses the importance of establishing sound processes for relationship management and communications between these two organizational arms for efficient NHS organization and care delivery. The relationship between providers and commissioners is structured through a series of timetabled meetings throughout the year. Commissioning for Quality is now central to the relationship between purchasers and providers with financial incentives to provide high-quality, safe care through Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN).

Studying language and communication at work implies that we connect them to the very processes, activities, and practices that constitute organizations or organizational phenomena. This chapter ...
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Studying language and communication at work implies that we connect them to the very processes, activities, and practices that constitute organizations or organizational phenomena. This chapter demonstrates that language and communication at work can mean many things and that there are a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches that can be used for such analysis. Four characteristic features of such studies are highlighted: (1) interest in the communicative constitution of organization, (2) focus on discursive or communicative practices, (3) emphasis on temporal aspects and dynamics, and (4) placing language and communication in its sociomaterial context. Not all studies can focus on all these aspects, but these features are central in this nascent stream of research.Less

Language and Communication at Work : Discourse, Narrativity, and Organizing Introducing the Fourth Volume of “Perspectives on Process Organization Studies”

François CoorenEero VaaraAnn LangleyHaridimos Tsoukas

Published in print: 2014-05-08

Studying language and communication at work implies that we connect them to the very processes, activities, and practices that constitute organizations or organizational phenomena. This chapter demonstrates that language and communication at work can mean many things and that there are a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches that can be used for such analysis. Four characteristic features of such studies are highlighted: (1) interest in the communicative constitution of organization, (2) focus on discursive or communicative practices, (3) emphasis on temporal aspects and dynamics, and (4) placing language and communication in its sociomaterial context. Not all studies can focus on all these aspects, but these features are central in this nascent stream of research.

The so-called “linguistic turn” purportedly has allowed scholars to demonstrate why it seems so important to focus on language, discourse, and social interaction when studying organizational ...
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The so-called “linguistic turn” purportedly has allowed scholars to demonstrate why it seems so important to focus on language, discourse, and social interaction when studying organizational phenomena. However, it could be argued that it also led them to neglect some key aspects of the role material agency plays in organizational processes, a negligence that the more recent “material turn” could be said to be addressing. This chapter proposes to show, both theoretically and empirically, that analysts do not actually need to keep turning in one direction or another, that is, choose between materiality and discourse, so to speak, but that they should rather focus on the multiple ways by which various forms of reality (more or less material) come to do things and even express themselves in a given interaction.Less

Why Matter Always Matters in (Organizational) Communication

François CoorenGail FairhurstRomain Huët

Published in print: 2012-11-22

The so-called “linguistic turn” purportedly has allowed scholars to demonstrate why it seems so important to focus on language, discourse, and social interaction when studying organizational phenomena. However, it could be argued that it also led them to neglect some key aspects of the role material agency plays in organizational processes, a negligence that the more recent “material turn” could be said to be addressing. This chapter proposes to show, both theoretically and empirically, that analysts do not actually need to keep turning in one direction or another, that is, choose between materiality and discourse, so to speak, but that they should rather focus on the multiple ways by which various forms of reality (more or less material) come to do things and even express themselves in a given interaction.

NHS Trusts were established in the 1990s with governance frameworks modelled on private sector organizations. This included each Trust having a Board with overall responsibility for future direction, ...
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NHS Trusts were established in the 1990s with governance frameworks modelled on private sector organizations. This included each Trust having a Board with overall responsibility for future direction, the boundaries within which the Trust operates, its values, and its results. This chapter discusses the role of NHS boards, effective Board communications, board papers, and common problems with communications to boards and their committees.Less

Trust boards structure, responsibilities, and communication

Nick Coleman

Published in print: 2010-09-16

NHS Trusts were established in the 1990s with governance frameworks modelled on private sector organizations. This included each Trust having a Board with overall responsibility for future direction, the boundaries within which the Trust operates, its values, and its results. This chapter discusses the role of NHS boards, effective Board communications, board papers, and common problems with communications to boards and their committees.

This book challenges the perspective that organizational expertise exists to be recognized and utilized, and offers an alternative lens that views expertise, and experts, as emergent and constituted ...
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This book challenges the perspective that organizational expertise exists to be recognized and utilized, and offers an alternative lens that views expertise, and experts, as emergent and constituted in communication among organizing actors. Scholars of diverse backgrounds explore how recent changes in the structure of organizational life have altered the nature of expertise, and discuss opportunities to advance the study of expertise. The work of experts is commonly characterized by exclusivity or an esoteric nature, making it both seemingly difficult to acquire and understand. Trens towards specialized work and employees’ increased reliance on communication technologies to complete tasks further complicate the evaluation of workers’ knowledge and abilities. Examining the intersection of communication and expertise within and across different contexts of organizing offers new insights into the discursive, material, and structural influences that contribute to an understanding of expertise. This presents theoretical frameworks for the study of expertise, providing reviews of how the study of expertise has evolved, applying perspectives on expertise to different domains of organizational practice, and presenting new directions for the study of the intersection of expertise, communication, and organizing.Less

Expertise, Communication, and Organizing

Published in print: 2016-06-01

This book challenges the perspective that organizational expertise exists to be recognized and utilized, and offers an alternative lens that views expertise, and experts, as emergent and constituted in communication among organizing actors. Scholars of diverse backgrounds explore how recent changes in the structure of organizational life have altered the nature of expertise, and discuss opportunities to advance the study of expertise. The work of experts is commonly characterized by exclusivity or an esoteric nature, making it both seemingly difficult to acquire and understand. Trens towards specialized work and employees’ increased reliance on communication technologies to complete tasks further complicate the evaluation of workers’ knowledge and abilities. Examining the intersection of communication and expertise within and across different contexts of organizing offers new insights into the discursive, material, and structural influences that contribute to an understanding of expertise. This presents theoretical frameworks for the study of expertise, providing reviews of how the study of expertise has evolved, applying perspectives on expertise to different domains of organizational practice, and presenting new directions for the study of the intersection of expertise, communication, and organizing.

This chapter analyzes organizations’ communications on their websites. Specifically, it explores the extent to which organizations work to build an interactive, discursive space in which information ...
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This chapter analyzes organizations’ communications on their websites. Specifically, it explores the extent to which organizations work to build an interactive, discursive space in which information is shareable between individual members and where those members have the opportunity to develop some degree of communicative autonomy—features in line with the actualizing civic information style. It also looks at the types of actions in which members are asked to participate, contrasting relatively more conventional, dutiful activities such as contacting government officials and contributing financially to the organization against emerging, networked, and expressive activities such as posting one’s own views to social media spaces. Results are not hopeful from the perspective of a revitalization of civic communication through websites. The style of communication displayed by civic organizations was overwhelmingly dutiful, with most websites used as little more than advertisements for strategically crafted informationLess

Civic Organizations’ Communications on the Web

Chris Wells

Published in print: 2015-08-01

This chapter analyzes organizations’ communications on their websites. Specifically, it explores the extent to which organizations work to build an interactive, discursive space in which information is shareable between individual members and where those members have the opportunity to develop some degree of communicative autonomy—features in line with the actualizing civic information style. It also looks at the types of actions in which members are asked to participate, contrasting relatively more conventional, dutiful activities such as contacting government officials and contributing financially to the organization against emerging, networked, and expressive activities such as posting one’s own views to social media spaces. Results are not hopeful from the perspective of a revitalization of civic communication through websites. The style of communication displayed by civic organizations was overwhelmingly dutiful, with most websites used as little more than advertisements for strategically crafted information

In the United States, approximately one in five women experiences rape during college, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students experience sexual violence at higher rates ...
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In the United States, approximately one in five women experiences rape during college, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students experience sexual violence at higher rates than their peers. Given this context, many colleges are working to better prevent and address these assaults. This book takes up this social problem—how organizations talk about and respond to sexual violence—and considers it in proximity to a persistent theoretical dilemma in the academic field of organizational communication: How are organization and violence related, and what does that relationship have to do with communication? Guided by feminist new materialist and intersectional theories, the book examines one public U.S. university known for responding well to sexual violence. It focuses on the processes and policies that require most faculty and administrators, along with student–employees, to report sexual violence to designated campus offices, per federal laws Title IX, the Clery Act, and the Violence Against Women Act. Unfortunately, the university’s interventions in sexual violence reinforce other violent systems. The book illustrates the negative consequences of considering communication to be either separate from the physical world or indistinguishable from it. It also details problems with the notion that only individuals enact violence. Through its focus on two core ideas—communication and agency—the book encourages scholars to avoid wholly constructivist or realist arguments, and it shows the importance of questions about power and difference in organizational scholarship on posthumanism and materiality. The book concludes with suggestions for how U.S. universities can look “beyond the rapist” to generate more robust interventions in sexual violence.Less

Beyond the Rapist : Title IX and Sexual Violence on US Campuses

Kate Lockwood Harris

Published in print: 2019-05-09

In the United States, approximately one in five women experiences rape during college, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students experience sexual violence at higher rates than their peers. Given this context, many colleges are working to better prevent and address these assaults. This book takes up this social problem—how organizations talk about and respond to sexual violence—and considers it in proximity to a persistent theoretical dilemma in the academic field of organizational communication: How are organization and violence related, and what does that relationship have to do with communication? Guided by feminist new materialist and intersectional theories, the book examines one public U.S. university known for responding well to sexual violence. It focuses on the processes and policies that require most faculty and administrators, along with student–employees, to report sexual violence to designated campus offices, per federal laws Title IX, the Clery Act, and the Violence Against Women Act. Unfortunately, the university’s interventions in sexual violence reinforce other violent systems. The book illustrates the negative consequences of considering communication to be either separate from the physical world or indistinguishable from it. It also details problems with the notion that only individuals enact violence. Through its focus on two core ideas—communication and agency—the book encourages scholars to avoid wholly constructivist or realist arguments, and it shows the importance of questions about power and difference in organizational scholarship on posthumanism and materiality. The book concludes with suggestions for how U.S. universities can look “beyond the rapist” to generate more robust interventions in sexual violence.

Delilah is a mother of three who works the phones in dispatch at a metropolitan police department. She enjoys her job, but her new boss is ruffling some feathers. Complaining that he gets too many ...
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Delilah is a mother of three who works the phones in dispatch at a metropolitan police department. She enjoys her job, but her new boss is ruffling some feathers. Complaining that he gets too many emails, he wants their team to start communicating through text messages. But he forgets that mobile service plans are fairly expensive for many of his employees. What happens in the “Flicked Her a Nickel” story sets the stage for how employees, managers, organizations, friends, and family negotiate for control over mobile communication. This chapter introduces a focus on how communication happens around mobile devices and shows how this research contributes to three fields: mobile communication, organizational communication, and management information systems. It introduces key terms, previews the chapters, and teases the reader with a few of the unexpected findings.Less

Introduction

Keri K. Stephens

Published in print: 2018-08-20

Delilah is a mother of three who works the phones in dispatch at a metropolitan police department. She enjoys her job, but her new boss is ruffling some feathers. Complaining that he gets too many emails, he wants their team to start communicating through text messages. But he forgets that mobile service plans are fairly expensive for many of his employees. What happens in the “Flicked Her a Nickel” story sets the stage for how employees, managers, organizations, friends, and family negotiate for control over mobile communication. This chapter introduces a focus on how communication happens around mobile devices and shows how this research contributes to three fields: mobile communication, organizational communication, and management information systems. It introduces key terms, previews the chapters, and teases the reader with a few of the unexpected findings.

In this book, the author shows how employees, organizations, and even friends and family are struggling to understand how the expected norms for mobile-communication connectedness function when ...
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In this book, the author shows how employees, organizations, and even friends and family are struggling to understand how the expected norms for mobile-communication connectedness function when people are working. Until the early 2000s workplaces provided most of the computers and portable devices that employees used to do their jobs and communicate with others. Now, people bring their own mobile devices to work, use them to circumvent official organizational channels, and create new norms for how communication occurs. Managers and organizations set policies, enforce rules, and create their own workarounds to navigate the ever-changing mobile-communication environment. This book draws on over two decades of research studies and fieldwork, consisting of 150 distinct interviews and focus groups, representing people in over 35 different types of jobs, to claim that people assume mobile communication is a uniform practice. Instead, the book reveals underlying—often hidden—issues of control and power that shape how people are permitted and expected to use mobiles to communicate while working. The stories and extended examples reveal a wide-ranging account of how these portable tools are used across work environments today. The book develops a grounded theory describing the ongoing negotiation for control when people use their personally owned devices while working. These lifelines integrate information, communication, and data, and they connect people in unexpected and often conflicting ways.Less

Negotiating Control : Organizations and Mobile Communication

Keri K. Stephens

Published in print: 2018-08-20

In this book, the author shows how employees, organizations, and even friends and family are struggling to understand how the expected norms for mobile-communication connectedness function when people are working. Until the early 2000s workplaces provided most of the computers and portable devices that employees used to do their jobs and communicate with others. Now, people bring their own mobile devices to work, use them to circumvent official organizational channels, and create new norms for how communication occurs. Managers and organizations set policies, enforce rules, and create their own workarounds to navigate the ever-changing mobile-communication environment. This book draws on over two decades of research studies and fieldwork, consisting of 150 distinct interviews and focus groups, representing people in over 35 different types of jobs, to claim that people assume mobile communication is a uniform practice. Instead, the book reveals underlying—often hidden—issues of control and power that shape how people are permitted and expected to use mobiles to communicate while working. The stories and extended examples reveal a wide-ranging account of how these portable tools are used across work environments today. The book develops a grounded theory describing the ongoing negotiation for control when people use their personally owned devices while working. These lifelines integrate information, communication, and data, and they connect people in unexpected and often conflicting ways.

This chapter discusses expertise in an engineering space both by providing an extended example of a global multidisciplinary engineering design team and by focusing on project-based design both as ...
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This chapter discusses expertise in an engineering space both by providing an extended example of a global multidisciplinary engineering design team and by focusing on project-based design both as practice in learning and an employment context. Drawing from organizational communication, professional communication, and human-centered design, we provide a three-pronged framing of expertise that links the communicative constitution of expertise in project-based work, professional development of normative understandings through texts, and engineering design expertise formation and enrichment. This framing enables scholars and practitioners to converse about the dialogic tensions and possibilities that surface when attention is centered on particular discourses and materialities within and between these frames. Taken together, we propose that expertise “becomes” through and transcending these three processes within design that is team-based, multidisciplinary, and community-embedded. This chapter contributes to understandings of the tensions, ambiguities, and ambivalences around experts, expertise, and accomplishment of new knowledge.Less

Learning Expertise in Engineering Design Work : Creating Space for Experts to Make Mistakes

Patrice M. BuzzanellZiyu Long

Published in print: 2016-06-01

This chapter discusses expertise in an engineering space both by providing an extended example of a global multidisciplinary engineering design team and by focusing on project-based design both as practice in learning and an employment context. Drawing from organizational communication, professional communication, and human-centered design, we provide a three-pronged framing of expertise that links the communicative constitution of expertise in project-based work, professional development of normative understandings through texts, and engineering design expertise formation and enrichment. This framing enables scholars and practitioners to converse about the dialogic tensions and possibilities that surface when attention is centered on particular discourses and materialities within and between these frames. Taken together, we propose that expertise “becomes” through and transcending these three processes within design that is team-based, multidisciplinary, and community-embedded. This chapter contributes to understandings of the tensions, ambiguities, and ambivalences around experts, expertise, and accomplishment of new knowledge.

This book engages union reformers at Boeing in Wichita and Seattle to reveal how ordinary workers attempted to take command of their futures by chipping away at the cozy partnership between union ...
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This book engages union reformers at Boeing in Wichita and Seattle to reveal how ordinary workers attempted to take command of their futures by chipping away at the cozy partnership between union leadership and corporate management. Focusing on the 1995 strike at Boeing, the book renders a multi-layered account of the battles between the company and the union and within the union led by Unionists for Democratic Change and two other dissident groups. The book gives voice to the company's claims of the hardships of competitiveness the entrenched union leaders' calls for concessions in the name of job security, alongside the democratic union reformers' fight for a rank-and-file upsurge against both the company and the union leaders. Incorporating theory and methods from the fields of organizational communication as well as labor studies, the book methodically uncovers and analyzes the goals, strategies, and dilemmas of the dissidents who, while wanting to uphold the ideas and ideals of the union, took up the gauntlet to make it more responsive to workers and less conciliatory toward management, especially in times of economic stress or crisis.Less

We Are the Union : Democratic Unionism and Dissent at Boeing

Dana L. Cloud

Published in print: 2011-11-01

This book engages union reformers at Boeing in Wichita and Seattle to reveal how ordinary workers attempted to take command of their futures by chipping away at the cozy partnership between union leadership and corporate management. Focusing on the 1995 strike at Boeing, the book renders a multi-layered account of the battles between the company and the union and within the union led by Unionists for Democratic Change and two other dissident groups. The book gives voice to the company's claims of the hardships of competitiveness the entrenched union leaders' calls for concessions in the name of job security, alongside the democratic union reformers' fight for a rank-and-file upsurge against both the company and the union leaders. Incorporating theory and methods from the fields of organizational communication as well as labor studies, the book methodically uncovers and analyzes the goals, strategies, and dilemmas of the dissidents who, while wanting to uphold the ideas and ideals of the union, took up the gauntlet to make it more responsive to workers and less conciliatory toward management, especially in times of economic stress or crisis.